


Love Lost in Translation

by MistressNoriko



Category: Dragon Age: Inquisition
Genre: Depictions of Sex, Dragon Age: Inquisition Spoilers, F/M, Fluff, Gender Dysphoria, Krem de la Krem, Love Story, Mage Trevelyan (Dragon Age), Relationship Hurdles, Romance, Sex in later chapters, Talks About Gender, Trans, Transgender, Trevelyan has a lot to learn, forward Inquisitor, happy endings, human mage inquisitor, oblivious Krem, second-guessing, story coincides with the game, touch of angst, why bioware didn't let us romance Krem is beyond me
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-09-15
Packaged: 2020-01-07 04:16:16
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 12,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18402923
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MistressNoriko/pseuds/MistressNoriko
Summary: After the collapse of the circles and the chaos caused by the explosion at the conclave, Evelyn Trevelyan finds herself in a new life with new responsibilities. Not only does she have to adjust to a life of freedom outside of the circle (a life she’s prepared to fight to keep), she also has to navigate how she fits into the Inquisition and its plans to seal the hole in the sky. Nothing has gone to plan, especially her growing feelings for a Lieutenant of a Mercenary band that begins working alongside her. Will she screw up her chances with the awkward, somewhat oblivious Krem before anything really develops?  Or will their romantic advances be lost in translation because of their opposing love languages?





	1. First Impressions

**Author's Note:**

> This story has been kicking around in my head for a while and I thought it was finally time to put it to paper!
> 
> Enjoy!

_Why do_ **I** _have to go to the blighted, bear-infested Hinterlands? Again?!_   _I'm not some bloody errand mage!_ Evelyn Trevelyan thought begrudgingly as she kicked at a small pebble that had made its way into the chantry.  _And to look for a Grey Warden who doesn't want to be found? Wouldn't Leliana's people be better suited for this? They're_ **spies** _, for Maker's sake!_

The mage let out a loud, frustrated sigh, uncaring of who might overhear her. Madame Vivienne de Fer looked over her shoulder as she unpacked something onto a desk along the far wall of the chantry. Evelyn forced a smile when their eyes met. She didn't have the energy to partake in any sort of conversation with her and kept walking towards the chantry doors.

Vivienne's pretentious attitude about mages and the necessity of circles had been an intolerable lecture to endure on their long travel back to Haven from Val Royeaux. The woman didn't understand the plight of most mages – she was wealthy, lived outside the circle for most of her adult life, and had political influence pouring out her well-rounded ears. Evelyn hadn't even had a "true" circle experience, herself, given her lineage to the Trevelyan noble family, but knew she'd had it good while Vivienne boasted that all mages had a good life in the circle. Evelyn disagreed with every fiber of her being; she'd been granted an extravagant room in the Ostwick circle; she was allowed to leave to travel home for lavish parties, and the Templars overlooked almost everything she did that was out of line – or perhaps that was because she'd slept with several of them. She assumed it was a combination of the two facts.

Evelyn wasn't blind to the fact that the other mages in her circle were not treated with the same kindnesses and that she had been extremely well off in comparison, unlike Vivienne's closeminded interpretation. Evelyn had used her station to try and make life better for the other mages in the Ostwick circle. There were many times she'd intervened when the Templars were disciplining or berating another mage. Other mages didn't quite know what to think of her, but they knew that if she was around, there wouldn't be any trouble from the Templars. Some even sought her counsel when they wanted to have something changed and Evelyn would use her bloodline to the other mages' advantage to see the change through.

But listening to Vivienne prattle on, she would have you believe that mages were incapable of caring for themselves and needed to be dominated by an overaggressive Templar presence; a presence that needed to be increased so another rebellion had no chance of starting up. It wasn't something that Evelyn ever expected the ostentatious woman to change her view on. Had it not been for Josephine's voice in the back of her head begging her to make contacts with the Orlesian court, Evelyn would have declined Madame de Fer's offer to join the Inquisition outright. She knew she wasn't in charge, but the severe woman's way of thinking was dangerous and, if the way of the world was left up to her, she would have all mages returned to circles for a miserable life of confinement and have them held there indefinitely until the next blight demanded their services.

The one good thing to come from the latrine fire that was Val Royeaux—given the altercation at Madame de Fer's estate, the show of aggression from the Templars against the chantry, and the general fear from the Orlesian citizens of the Inquisition—was meeting Sera. The rambunctious elf archer had made the long journey back to Haven bearable and helped save Evelyn's sanity and blood pressure while the Orlesian mage rambled on and on about the importance of circles by making faces just out of Vivienne's view, cementing her confidence that letting Sera join the Inquisition was the right call, despite Cassandra and Solas' visible hesitations.

Evelyn already knew that the blonde elf would probably accompany her whenever she left the confines of Haven to do the Inquisition's bidding. Not only because she was a damn good shot, but she was fun to be around. In fact, that was where she was headed – to the tavern to ask if Sera wanted to go trouncing around bear-infested, bandit-riddled, war-torn woods to look for a stuffy Grey Warden.

Perhaps she needed to sell it a bit better than that.

She had a sneaking suspicion, though, that Sera would accompany her regardless simply for something to do. The elf seemed the type who liked to keep moving and traveled enough to know how to navigate new areas. That was something that Evelyn desperately needed assistance with – she could charm people all day long, something she'd perfected in her time at noble house parties growing up and seducing Templars and other mages while living at the Ostwick circle. Charm and diplomacy she could do. Street smarts and wilderness navigation was something she needed help with. She'd grown up sheltered and didn't know how to navigate a world that wasn't meticulously landscaped or closed off from the rest of civilization.

She'd rather follow Sera's lead than Solas', the other wanderer of their steadily growing merry band of misfits. Evelyn still wasn't sure why she didn't like the elven mage, but he made her uncomfortable and feel inferior somehow, in a different way than Vivienne did. His talks of spirits and the fade was fascinating, and he never spoke down to her because she always made inquiries when they spoke. Their conversations were always very academic and often pleasant, but there was something about the way he held himself – something she hadn't figured out quite yet.

She opened one of the heavy doors to the chantry and the cold Haven air hit her immediately, blowing straight through the cloth of her jacket.

"Maker's balls," she said, her teeth chattering against one another as she drew her jacket tighter to her person. "At least the Hinterlands is warmer than Haven," she muttered as she looked at the path through the snow towards the tavern. "And prettier… even with all the bears constantly attacking you."

"Um, excuse me."

Evelyn stopped and looked to her right. A young man was standing there in impressive armor, rubbing his hands together for warmth as cold mist hung around his mouth from his exhale. She was glad that she wasn't the only one who was cold. She blinked as she looked the man up and down, seeing an emblem on the cloth hanging from the leather strap about his waist that she was unfamiliar with.

She couldn't help the smile that slowly spread across her lips as she surveyed the man: This man was attractive – short hair on the sides of his head with longer, slightly messy hair on top of his head with a gentle, clean-shaven face that held a strong jawline and prominent cheekbones. His armor was impressive – that of a front-line fighter, and although she couldn't see his actual frame, the armor made her assume he would be quite muscular. He was slightly short for a man, but not by much. His brown eyes looked at her hopefully and Evelyn glanced down to his lips – full lips that looked like they would be quite soft and perilously pliable.

"Can I help you?" she asked warmly, pivoting to walk towards him, exaggerating the sway of her hips as she went. She hadn't seen him before and was intrigued to get to know the handsome newcomer.

"I'm hoping so," he said with a small chuckle, rubbing his hands together rapidly again and then bringing them to his sides. "I've got a message for the Inquisition, but I'm having a hard time getting anyone to talk to me."

His voice was a touch higher than his stature made Evelyn thought it would be. His voice also waivered with a touch of nervousness. Evelyn bit the edge of her lip and looked him up and down again.

"I'd be more than happy to talk with you," Evelyn said, her tone suggestive. "What's the message?"

The young man swallowed and then adjusted the waist of his armor and then hooked his thumbs on the leather strap on his waist. "We got word of some Tevinter mercenaries gathering out on the Storm Coast," he began. His nervous tone changed and his voice deepened slightly as he began talking business. "My company commander, Iron Bull, offers the information free of charge. If you'd like to see what the Bull's Chargers can do for the Inquisition, meet us there and watch us work."

" _What the_ **Bull's Chargers** _can do for the Inquisition_? Are you trying to sell your services?"

The man blinked, swallowing hard as he shifted his stance. "Um, yes?"

Evelyn licked her lip thoughtfully, maintaining eye contact with the man's soft brown eyes. "Is that a question or an answer," she trailed off, realizing she didn't have a name to tease at the end of her sentence. "I'm sorry – what was your name?"

"Krem," he said automatically before his nerves resurfaced, causing him to rub the back of his neck. "Erm, Lieutenant Cremisius Aclassi, if you're feeling fancy, ma'am."

"Ma'am? Do I look like I'm that old?" Evelyn said playfully, putting a hand up to her chest, feigning insult.

"What?! No! No, ma—miss. I just," Krem bit both of his lips together and then let out a breath through his nose. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean any offense. What is your name, if we're to exchange introductions?"

"Evelyn Trevelyan," she said with the slightest of curtsies. "Though, people around here call me the  _Herald of Andraste_  for some reason," she said offhandedly.

The man's eyes went wide. "Andraste's ti—you're her!?"

Evelyn smirked. "By Andraste's tits, I am." She winked.

"Maker," Krem breathed and rubbed his neck again. His nerves were back, and it made Evelyn smile wider. The young man was far too easy to fluster. "My apologies, your worship. I hope I haven't offended you."

Evelyn waved a dismissive hand as she smiled to him. "Not at all." She took a step closer to the man, looking up at him even though he was only an inch or two taller than herself. "So, Lieutenant, what can your Chargers offer the Inquisition?"

Krem cleared his throat but stayed his ground. "We're loyal, we're tough, and we don't break contracts," he said confidently. When Evelyn didn't say anything or move back, he nervously added: "Ask around Val Royeaux. W-we've got references."

Evelyn wanted to ask if he had any personal references to see if he'd blush, but she refrained. She had some sense for not driving away possible assistance to the Inquisition. But it didn't mean she would stop herself from flirting with the messenger.

"Alright. Color me intrigued, Lieutenant." She paused intentionally, taking a moment to look him up down without any subtly to her eye movements. She pulled her bottom lip through her teeth slowly and then met his eyes, satisfied to see the start of a blush blossoming on his face. "Tell me, how does this commander of yours compare to yourself?"

"To me?" he blinked and arched a confused eyebrow. "Uh, Iron Bull? He's one of those qunari."

Evelyn stayed quiet, waiting for more information. Apparently, he took that as her not knowing was a qunari was.

"Y'know… The big guys?" He flexed his arms in front of him.

Evelyn suppressed a smirk but continued to stay quiet.

"With the horns?" he added as he brought his hands up to the crown of his head and made horns with his fingers.

Evelyn relented and smiled. There was something charming about the man that she couldn't quite put her finger on other than his nervous awkwardness. The way that his voice fluctuated made her think that he was trying to sound tougher or more masculine, which she found cute that he felt the need to try and impress her that way. She knew it most likely didn't have anything to with her specifically and was probably just how he was, but, it was still cute. Or maybe it was her… some of the most devout andrastians that had flocked to Haven treated her with a reverence that made her incredibly uncomfortable. But no – it wasn't that with Krem. He was an attractive ball of awkward nerves, not a fumbling andrastian faithful.

He waggled his horn fingers and smiled nervously.

"I know what a qunari is, Lieutenant," she said softly, laughter edging her voice as she reached up and placed her hand around one of his, bringing it slowly away from his head and back down. His hand was surprisingly warm despite the thick glove he was wearing. She almost wished she could feel his skin to see if he was as cold as she was or if it was his personal warmth permeating through the gloved material.

The man's brown eyes widened slightly and his mouth fell agape as he watched Evelyn move his hand down. After a moment of simply looking at their held hands, he swallowed nervously again and dropped his other hand and then pulled his hand out of hers to rub the back of his neck.

"A-anyway," he said, clearing his throat. "Bull leads from the front, he pays well, and he's a lot smarter than the last bastard I worked for. Best of all, he's professional. We accept contracts with whoever makes the first real offer." He spoke quickly as if he was trying to run through all of the points he was told to relay.

He swallowed again and then met Evelyn's gaze, his eyes turning thoughtful as he considered her. He glanced up behind her, presumably at the Inquisition banner draped over the entrance to the Chantry and then met her gaze again.

"You're the first time he's gone out of his way to pick a side."

"Is that so?"

He nodded. "He thinks your Inquisition is doing good work."

"Well then," Evelyn smiled, extending her hand. "Consider the Inquisition interested."

The man blinked, looked down at her hand, and then almost jumped. He brought his hand up and clasped Evelyn's hand.

"I look forward to meeting this  _Iron Bull_ and the rest of his Chargers," she added.

"We're the best you'll find. Come to the Storm Coast and see us in action," he said as he shook her hand.

"Does that mean I'll get to see you in action, Lieutenant?" Evelyn asked, deliberately holding the handshake longer than diplomatically necessary.

Their hands stopped moving and the man blinked several times. "Uh. Yes?" He then cleared his throat and let go of Evelyn's hand, nodded, the muscles along his jawline pulsing slightly. The uncertainty about his expression vanished as she squared his shoulders and nodded. "Yes. I fight alongside Iron Bull, your worship," he said confidently.

Evelyn's smile spread over her face as she slowly bit her lower lip, maintaining eye contact with his brown eyes. "I look forward to the show," she said, keeping her tone suggestive with an added wink.

A rosy hue that had nothing to do with the cold flushed across his cheeks, deepening the remnants of his previous blush. He nodded to her, moved his arm to salute but brought it back down before his hand touched his forehead with a frown. He then nodded again and turned on his heel and began walking away towards Haven's gates.

Evelyn let herself watch the man walk away as she continued biting her lip. After he got past Threnn's requisitions tent, Evelyn saw him bring a hand up and smack the side of his head. She smiled. The man seemed frustrated with his demeanor in front of her and Evelyn couldn't help but smile to herself. She had enjoyed flustering him, and she hadn't even really been trying that hard. She licked her bottom lip, pulling it through her teeth at the thought of how flustered he could become if she actually put an honest effort into it.

"What the ruddy hell was that about?"

"Hmm?" Evelyn hummed, turning her head towards the sound of Sera's distinct voice.

Sera walked up from her left, presumably from the tavern. She pointedly motioned a hand towards the Lieutenant as he walked past where Varric often puttered about near a fire. "Him. Is he bloody dense or something?"

Evelyn arched an eyebrow, taking a sauntering step towards her. "Why would you call that fine young man dense, Sera?"

Sera gave her a flat expression, thumbing in the Lieutenant's direction as she looked the mage up and down. "Because you clearly want to strip him stark naked and have your way with 'em and he's got absolutely no clue, hasn't he."

"What he doesn't know won't hurt him," Evelyn said with a not so innocent shrug and then fell in step with Sera as they began walking back towards the tavern.

"Rein it in a bit, will ya?" Sera teased, bumping shoulders with the mage.

"What?" Evelyn asked, looking over her shoulder at Sera, keeping her facial expression semi flirtatious. "Are you jealous that I don't look at you like that?"

Sera let out a laugh. A singular, loud laugh. "Ha! You? Me?"

Evelyn gave her a suggestive shrug as she raised both eyebrows at her and tried to give her a seductive glance, but couldn't stop the edges of her lips from turning into a smile.

She liked Sera, and she'd been with women before. Sera would definitely be a fun romp in the sheets, but Evelyn liked her too much to simply have the woman satisfy some base need like sex. As fun and aloof as Sera seemed, Evelyn didn't think that they'd be compatible romantically for more than a few fun nights. She wanted her friendship far more than she wanted anything physical from her.

Sera laughed again. "As fun as that could be, I think I'll pass, yeah? You're cute 'n all but… Nah."

Evelyn laughed with the blond elf and then gently pushed on Sera's shoulder, causing her footing to go slightly off balance.

"That's it?  _Nah_ is all I get?"

Sera nodded with a grin.

"I'm wounded, Sera!" Evelyn cried playfully, suppressing another laugh and brought a hand to her chest dramatically.

"I'm sure soldier boy there could mend you up just fine," Sera said, sticking her tongue out with a wink.

"Oh, I'm sure he could," Evelyn said, looking over her shoulder to get one last glimpse of the man before the tents cut him from view.

Despite her selfish reasons of wanting to see more of the Lieutenant, he had made a genuine offer of assistance to the Inquisition. She had been tasked with making contacts and finding more agents for their cause and these Chargers seemed willing to help. One group of well-trained mercenaries was bound to be more helpful than one singular Grey Warden, right? But it seemed that their offer had a limited window so she'd need to act fast. And if these  _Bull's Chargers_ helped the Inquisition, so what if that put her closer to the easily flustered Lieutenant? No one, save Sera, needed to be any the wiser.

 _The crotchety Grey Warden can wait,_ Evelyn thought as she bit her lip.

"C'mon. Get your gear," Evelyn said as she looked back to Sera with a smile.

"Oh?" Sera looked excited. "Where we headed?"

"The Storm Coast," Evelyn said confidently. "Let's go see him and his  _Chargers_  in action, shall we?"


	2. Second Impressions

Lightning crackled in her staff as she charged another spell. Electric based spells in the rain were the most efficient way to put a quick end to opponents under normal circumstances, but these Tevinter mercenaries had armor that seemed to be resistant to her spells. So far, she'd only been able to fell one when, in other altercations similar to this one, she'd been able to debilitate an entire group at once with a well-placed chain lightning spell due to the amount of water in the air and on the ground.

 _Perhaps joining the fray without a plan wasn't my best idea to date,_ she thought as she ground her teeth, willing her spell to manifest faster as a Tevinter fighter began charging at her with his sword raised.

Her spell wasn't going to ignite fast enough, and she closed her eyes, bracing for impact. She wagered that her barrier, courtesy of Solas, could take one more hit before it dissipated. But instead of something hitting her, she heard the distinct sound of a thud of a weapon hitting wet armor.

She opened her eyes, blinking water droplets out of her vision to see a familiar set of armor and an impressive two-handed maul sunk into the helmet of the now downed Tevinter fighter on the rocky shore.

"You alright, your worship?"

Evelyn smiled. She couldn't see his face, as he wore a metal helmet that covered the entirety of his head, but she recognized the voice of the Lieutenant she'd spoken to outside the chantry in Haven. Krem was it? Or had it been a longer, more Tevinter sounding name?

Whatever his name was – that wasn't pertinent in this moment. She was grateful for his fortuitous timing and adeptness with his maul.

She felt the spell course through her, ready to be released. An unsuspecting Tevinter started rushing the armored Lieutenant in front of her, and she released her spell, hitting the metal of the attacker straight in the chest. Lighting enveloped every metal armament on the Tevinter before arcing off of them to an unsuspecting archer some three yards away, catching him in the arm and causing the shot they'd been aiming to go wild and up into the sky as his body convulsed to the ground. Apparently, not all the armor of the Tevinter band was made with the same superior materials.

"Better now that you're here!" Evelyn shouted so the Charger's Lieutenant could hear her over the rain, crashing sea, and battle around them.

The man gave an over-exaggerated nod before springing forward, swinging his maul over his shoulders and down on the armored Tevinter as he tried to stand up from his electrocution. The hit left the Tevinter's breastplate dinted deep into their sternum, and the body unmoving on the soaked stone beach.

"Good to hear," Krem yelled back over the sound of crashing waves. "Stay close!"

"I thought you'd never ask," Evelyn teased as she fired a quick jolt at the archer for good measure before putting her back to Krem's.

Together they fought, fending off a wave of combatants with a systematic approach: Evelyn would fire off an electrifying spell, and Krem would slam his maul to finish their foes with their powerful two-hit combination. Whenever she could, Evelyn would use a more powerful chain lighting spell to try and incapacitate a small group for a short time while they dealt with other combatants directly in front of them.

Evelyn kept an eye on her people. Sera had positioned herself in an advantageous spot on the hill, avoiding most of the fray and methodically firing arrows to finish foes. Cassandra was holding her own, sword and shield in hand as she worked with another Charger mercenary to take on an enemy spellcaster. Solas stood on the opposite side of the battlefield, casting barriers on allies and trying to suppress the enemies' magic users with his more subtle spells.

The battle dwindled down, allowing Evelyn to relax. There were a handful of Tevinter fighters engaged with some Chargers, but none were in her immediate vicinity, and the Chargers had their situation handled, felling several at once. The Lieutenant was right – they  _were_  an impressive bunch.

She was just about to place her staff in its holding on her back while Krem knelt down to pick up a scroll from a downed Tevinter when the sound of feet crashing through rocks registered in her ears over the crashing sea. Evelyn turned around to see what look like the last Tevinter on the battlefield running at her, his greatsword drawn and closing fast.

"Maker's balls," Evelyn hissed as she tried to pull her staff back around.

Strong arms wrapped around her waist from the side, and then she felt her feet leave the ground as her body was moved away from the oncoming assailant. She quickly looked to see that it was the Lieutenant who was repositioning her, putting his back to the attacking Tevinter. The movement of being swung around caused her to lose her grip on her wet staff, and she heard it clatter to the ground several feet away.

The loud clang of metal meeting metal rang out as vibrations surged through the Lieutenant's armor into Evelyn's ribs. The Charger let out a grunt of pain as the blow forced the two to the ground.

Her tailbone hit first, displacing the rocks beneath her before the rest of her body crashed to the beach with the added weight of the Charger's Lieutenant atop her. Her lungs felt painfully empty, their fall forcing out all of her oxygen. Her body coughed involuntarily, desperately trying to reclaim sustenance to her airways. But breathing was made difficult with the man on top of her; he felt utterly limp. His full weight pressed down on her, and his breastplate uncomfortably compressed her breasts and rammed painfully on her sternum.

"Lieutenant?" she asked with what little air she'd regained.

Her eyes widen when booted footfalls on loose stone registered in her ears, causing a wave of panic to flow through her. The Tevinter was still very much a problem.

"Lieutenant?!" Evelyn yelled frantically, hoping to rouse the man.

Without her staff, she risked hurting the Lieutenant if she were to fire off a spell through her hands. Staves weren't required to perform magic, but it certainly helped focus the spells on hitting specific targets instead of radiating through the caster's person. And she specialized in electrical spells. With her arms pinned to her side under the man's weight, there was no way she could fire off an offensive spell without hurting him, too.

The Tevinter came into her view and raised his greatsword high in the sky, preparing to bring its point down onto the man's back. With them being in such a defenseless position, it would be easy for the Tevinter to bring the blade of the massive sword down through the Lieutenant's armor pieces, possibly running them both through if he stuck hard enough.

"Lieutenant!" she screamed, pushing up with all her strength to try and at least roll him before it was too late. She cursed herself for not learning barrier magic. If she lived through this, she'd ask Solas to teach her as soon as they got back to Haven.

The Tevinter reared up, rounding to his full height and pulled the sword high into the air with both hands on the pommel, readying to sink the blade downward.

"No, no, no, no!" she fretfully cried.

Evelyn closed her eyes tight. She desperately gripped the sides of the Lieutenant's breastplate and tried one final time to roll them out of harm's way, but she was unable.

A whistle tore through the air above before a wet thud stopped the sound. The odd noise was followed by the sound of the greatsword clanking against the ground, displacing and scattering stone in its wake. Evelyn blinked her eyes open and looked up at her assailant.

An arrow was expertly notched in his throat, which had been exposed as his hands had been raised. Blood slowly seeped out of the bottom of the helmet as gurgle resonated in the attacker's helm before he fell backward into the wet beach.

"Bits up, face down!" Evelyn heard Sera yell from the hill a fifty or so meters away.

Evelyn let out a sigh of relief. She knew that Sera would be an excellent addition to the Inquisition and she reminded herself to never leave Haven without the spunky elf. The immediate threat was taken care of thanks to Sera's quick thinking and eagle eyes.

She turned her attention back to the man on top of her. After substantial effort, she wriggled her hands free and placed them on his shoulders and gave him a gentle shake. "Lieutenant?"

"No one calls me that, your worship," he groaned. His pained voice was muffled yet amplified by his helmet. So were the laborious swallow and wet cough he took to clear his throat as he moved his head up from Evelyn's shoulder. "Please, call me Krem."

Evelyn smiled at him, her hands relaxing on his shoulders. "Are you alright, Krem?" she asked, blinking some of the water out of her eyes. "You took quite the hit."

Another cough resonated underneath the man's helmet as he nodded. "Yeah, fine… I think. Just, uh, just blacked out for a minute is all."

The stony ground beneath them shifted as the man planted his hands down and slowly lifted his torso up, his head looking around as he quickly surveyed the battlefield. The helmet re-centered, looking down at Evelyn for just a moment before a bolt of tension ran through his entire body. He ground his knees down, forcing them between Evelyn's splayed legs and sat up slightly before wrenching his helmet off and throwing it to the side.

"Maker!" His hands fell back to the pebbles as his eyes surveyed Evelyn's face, worry creased in his sweaty brow. "Did I hurt you?!"

Evelyn blinked as their positioning registered slowly in her mind's eye – he was above her with his legs between hers. When he'd lifted her, her legs had instinctively moved to wrap around him, so her legs were up at an angle, and her feet were planted in the stony ground between the Lieutenants calves. Her hands had moved slightly as he had moved, and now her fingers grasped loosely at the edge of the top of his breastplate.

 _Maker, what I wouldn't give to have him alone right now,_ Evelyn thought wickedly.

Although not her favorite position, she could only imagine the strength Krem possessed if he could wield that massive maul, and how this particular position would be advantageous to that core strength. With her legs wrapped around his, she resisted the urge to encourage him closer. But now wasn't the time. Not because there were plenty of people around, or that they were on a beach in broad daylight, and it was raining and miserably cold outside – those factors didn't bother her. Not in the slightest. It was more the fact that she didn't want to be so forward so quickly, despite her body's inclination otherwise. She wanted to make him work a little to win her affection before she'd give into those carnal desires, no matter how physically attracted she was to him.

She bit her bottom lip as she locked eyes with him before moving one of her hands up to flatten out Krem's disheveled helmet hair.

"I can handle being tossed around and a bit of pain. I actually quite enjoy it when a strong man like yourself can move me how he pleases," she said as she let her hand caress his cheek as it moved back down to his shoulder. Though she wouldn't physically tease him, verbal teasing was always fair game in her book. And it was far too much a part of her personality that it was impossible to stop it from entering into her conversations anymore. Well. Not impossible. But she didn't care enough to try and change the way she interacted with people. She found too much joy from flustering people, even in jest – but especially when she was legitimately interested in them.

A shade of red blossomed on his cheeks that had nothing to do with the cold weather or the exertion of battle. The man's mouth fell open and released the smallest of whimpers that Evelyn had quite possibly ever heard.

She was about to add something about preferring the action with much less clothing but wasn't able to get the words out, as a large hand clapped Krem on the shoulder.

"Chargers! Stand down!" a booming voice called out to the battlefield, before jovially adding: "Heh, good going, Krem  _de la Krem_."

Evelyn followed the line of the pale gray, impressively muscled flesh and found herself looking at a shirtless qunari. Well, not totally shirtless. He had leather straps that held a singular shoulder armor covering in place, but other than that, he was shirtless, exposing all of Thedas to his muscular physique.

The qunari put his impressive hands under Krem's arms and lifted him up off of the ground and steadied him on his feet before offering his hand down to Evelyn.

"And you must be the woman everyone is talking about," the qunari said.

"All good things, I hope," she said back as she clasped his forearm.

He pulled her effortlessly to her feet as if she weighed literally nothing at all. The movement was a little too quick, and she had to put a hand out to his massive muscular torso to steady herself. Evelyn cleared her throat and took a decided step back and withdrawing her hand from the qunari's chest. She liked men a great deal, but she'd never been into excessively muscled ones.

"Er, Iron Bull, I presume?" she said tentatively, looking the imposing qunari up and down, her eyes lingering on his eye patch for only a moment before remembering her manners.

"Yeah," he grinned. "The horns usually give it away."

"Here, your worship," Krem's voice said from the side.

Evelyn looked over and saw that he'd retrieved her staff from the stony ground and was handing it to her. She smiled warmly to him as she took it, making a point to  _accidentally_ brush her hand against his. She knew his hand was protected by his gloves and gauntlets, but she noticed him let the touch linger before pulling his hand away. He stood at attention next to Bull and didn't meet Evelyn's watchful eye, but that didn't stop the blush across his cheeks becoming more prevalent.

"So," Bull's voice boomed, drawing the mage's attention back to the impressively statured qunari. "What do you think?"

She gave a cat-like smirk and looked directly at Krem, who happened to look up and catch her eye.

"Well, count me thoroughly impressed," she said, exaggerating the word thoroughly suggestively before winking at the blushing Lieutenant.

Perhaps it was the wink or her tone, but the light red hue on his cheeks continued to grow darker as he swallowed nervously.

The Iron Bull laughed loudly before bringing a massive hand up and clapping his human Lieutenant on the shoulder. The movement jostled Krem's entire body, throwing him slightly off balance.

"Ha! Krem's really something, isn't he?" Bull's good-humored demeanor shifted as he took his hand off of Krem's shoulder. Seriousness began to edge into the corner of his lips as his smile dissipated. "But let's talk business, shall we?"

"Of course," Evelyn responded diplomatically.

"Krem," Bull started, turning slightly to the shorter human next to him. His muscles seemed to impede his movement somewhat as he turned from his hips instead of angling his neck. "Check on the crew and see that everyone's okay and then see to it that the throat cutters get to work."

"And, the Casks, chief?"

The Bull tsked at the man. "I like where your head's at. But you know the rules – no booze until all the vints are dead. Well, unless the vint is on  _our side._ "

Krem shook his head but was smiling as he walked off towards the battlefield and his fellow Chargers.

Evelyn looked between them, confused. Bull didn't give her long to stay in such a state, as he started walking towards the shore.

Right. They had business talks to attend to.

She sighed and began walking after him.

* * *

"Welcome to the Inquisition," Evelyn said as she extended her hand out. Handshakes made things official, right?

The Iron Bull smiled wide and took her hand in his, enthusiastically shaking her entire arm.

"You won't regret this," he assured her with a final shake.

Perhaps having a Ben-Hassrath among the Inquisition forces wasn't the best plan, but he was upfront about it. And he made it clear that he was the only one of the qunari spies among his men. The Chargers consisted of people he'd picked up along his travels and each held to their own traditions or lack thereof. The Chargers were just another band of merry misfits, much like the Inquisition itself in its current state.

"Krem!" the qunari yelled across the field. "Tell the men to finish drinking on the road. The Chargers just got hired!"

A chorus of cheers overpowered the sound of the crashing sea waves as the Chargers rejoiced in the news. Evelyn looked about the field to see several with their hands in the air, some with mugs of ale in their hands. Sera had a mug of her own and brought her mug against a hooded dwarf man's, ale spilling over into each other cups as they cheered together. She then found Cassandra and Solas standing near each other at the base of the hill, both looking cross with their arms folded in front of their chests like disappointed parents.

Evelyn couldn't help but smile. They proved to be a capable bunch. And the Inquisition was still in its infancy. They would be fools to turn any help away. Leliana would keep close tabs on them and ensure that the Ben-Hassrath arrangement wasn't an imposition to their entire operation. She was eerily sure that Leliana would take care of things if it became a problem. Despite often being frustrated with the redhead, she knew never to cross the woman.

"What about the casks, chief?!" she heard Krem cry above the jeering and celebration. "We just opened them. With  **axes**!"

Bull and Evelyn turned to see Krem looking slightly deflated, an empty mug in his hand. Apparently, he'd been serving drinks and hadn't partaken yet.

Bull gave an impressive shrug. "Find a way to seal them. You're Tevinter, right? Try blood magic."

The mage's eyes went wide, and then she quickly glanced to the Lieutenant. But his dismissive head shaking and laughter immediately put her at ease. The man wasn't a mage. Tevinter, perhaps. Mage, definitely not. Especially with how he wielded that maul. The blood magic comment must have been an inside joke.

Evelyn swallowed nervously.

 _Maker, I should really think things through more thoroughly sometimes,_  she thought to herself.  _What if they_ _ **had**_ _been Tevinter blood mages?_

Looking at Krem though, she knew she was worrying for nothing. The man was too kind and too nervous to be into any of that Tevinter  _blood sport_. The way he looked dejectedly down at an open cask only proved that.

She reached out and placed a hand on Bull's imposing forearm. He stopped his forward movement and looked down at her.

"Perhaps a compromise is in order, hmm?" Evelyn started. "My people are camping here tonight. We did have quite a long journey to get here and will be staying in the area for a few days. What do you say we celebrate the Chargers getting hired on in the way of keeping those casks open, but moving them up to the Inquisition camp, just up the hill and we all partake?" She motioned towards the hilltop.

The camp was several meters out of view, nestled in the trees behind the peak of the hill.

"I mean, with the world in chaos, we can't forget to enjoy ourselves from time to time," she finished with her most charming smile.

She fought the urge to look back to see what Krem was doing. It was silly how much she found herself wanting to look at him. It had been quite some time since she'd been so attracted to someone. When she'd joined the Inquisition, she'd initially been curiously attracted to Commander Cullen, but the surface level attraction quickly fizzled out when she found out he used to be a Templar. She'd had enough Templar relations for several lifetimes and wasn't interested in continuing that particular power dynamic in her relationships. Romantic, sexual, or otherwise.

"I like the way you think," Bull responded as a toothy smile spread across his pale reddish lips. He then turned back to the crowd of Chargers and yelled, "Change of plans! We drink with the Inquisition tonight!"

Another chorus of cheering filled the salty sea air, causing a smile to spread on Evelyn's face.

Regardless of whatever Bull being Ben-Hassrath meant or didn't mean for the Inquisition, she knew one thing for certain – she was going to be happy to have them around. So far everyone, save Varric and Sera, at Haven was stuffy and uptight. The Chargers would be a breath of fresh air for all of Haven, and she was sure they'd be more than eager to help raise morale, so long as booze was consistently available. And they were damn good in a fight, too.

She looked up to see Krem cheering with an elf and the hooded dwarf rushing over and talking animatedly while pointing to the cask in front of them. The Charger's Lieutenant looked at ease with these people, not the fumbling nervous messenger she'd seen at the Chantry a few days prior. She liked what she saw – the smile on his face gave warmth to her chest. Or was that her body's recollection of feeling him on top of her?

She smiled to herself and turned back to Bull.

"I do have one more question for you if you don't mind."

"Hmm?"

"Do you have any rules for your Chargers having," she paused, thinking over her words. " _Relations_ with their employers?"

Bull raised his eyebrow over his good eye and then chuckled. "They're all consenting adult. They can do what, and presumably who, they please. My only rule is they can go about their business so long as it doesn't the fuck the rest of us out of getting paid."

The mage gave a small laugh at Bull's choice of words. "How pragmatic."

His eyebrow arched higher. "And does the  _Herald of Andraste_  have her pretty blue eyes on a particular Charger?" It was clear he thought her newfound title was just as silly as she found it.

Evelyn smiled and shook her head. She was already enjoying the qunari, and he seemed trustworthy enough, given how forthcoming he was about the entire Ben-Hassrath thing. Perhaps he could accompany her instead of Cassandra for a while. She still needed Solas' protective magics in the field until she learned them herself or came across another mage who was proficient because she absolutely refused to travel anywhere with Vivienne regardless of magical talents.

"No. Just wondering. I need to communicate all the details of our arrangement to the powers that be, you know," she joked, avoiding his inquiry.

She then looked back to the field to see the hooded dwarf standing behind Krem who now had an opened cask balanced on his back. The dwarf's hands were holding the bottom of the barrel as the two began walking up the trail to the Inquisition camp atop the hill, Sera leading the way.

"Uh huh," Bull chaffed, eyeing her impishly.


	3. Waking up Warm

"Shhh," Evelyn hissed as she dove into Sera, clasping her hand tight around the slender elf's mouth. "It will hear you!"

Sera stuck out her tongue and forced it between two of the mage's fingers, wriggling it side to side vigorously. Evelyn brought her hand away with a startled expression, falling backward but was stopped by the muscular frame of the qunari sitting next to her. Sera sniggered impishly as she brought up a hand and pointed at Evelyn's face before laughing into her mug of ale. She took a long drink and emptied the remains of the amber liquid.

Bull laughed boisterously before bringing his heavy hand down, clapping Evelyn's shoulder.

"C'mon,  _Herald,_ " Sera started, inflating the mage's title and continued to snicker, only interrupted by a small hiccup as she began to stand, pointing towards the dragon in mid-flight. "That dragon is huge! We have to get closer, yeah?"

"Oh, and you think our drunk asses will be sneaky about it?" Evelyn asked, laughing herself as she grabbed the intoxicated elf by the wrist and pulled her back down to the ground. Sera landed on the grassy hilltop next to her and fell into her. "If it's so big, we can get a good enough look at it from here, hmm?"

"Pffft, you're no fun," Sera said, blowing a raspberry at Evelyn but making no effort to correct her posture.

Evelyn smiled down at her intoxicated friend. "Oh, I'm plenty of fun," she said suggestively but laughed shortly after. She liked Sera, but in the most platonic way possible. "But I'd like to avoid knowing what a dragon's innards look like for as long as possible."

"Eeew," Sera said, leaning heavier against her and pushing her more into Bull. "Why'd you have to make it about the ick?"

Evelyn and Bull laughed at Sera's discomfort. As their laughter quieted down, the mage let herself simply be between her evening companions, all three turning their gaze to watch the dragon land on the far offshore and give a concussive roar; a troll broke through the thick tree line, catapulting a rock from its grasp towards the dragon. Their small group gasped sharply as a collective whole when the dragon spat electricity at the rock, shattering it in midair.

Bull made a noise that sounded like he was enjoying the taste of something, but his large mug sat empty on the grassy hilltop they were seated upon as he looked across the bay as the massive dragon body slammed the equally giant troll into the stony shore.

Evelyn eyed him, a playful smirk playing on her lips. "What? Jealous of the troll, Bull?"

"Heh." A wicked smirk pulled on his lips. "Don't yuck on other people's yum, Herald."

Sera eyed him, leaning further into Evelyn, practically in her lap now, and looked up at the massive man that Evelyn was leaning on, ensuring he could see her face. "You tellin' me that dragon's strike your fancy? It's the horns, issnit?"

They all laughed.

It might have been the alcohol in her system, but Evelyn couldn't help but smile when she noticed how comfortable she was with the amount of physical contact between the three of them. With Sera sprawled into her lap and Bull's impressively muscled chest to lean into, it reminded her of when she was growing up, sharing an afternoon with friends before her magic manifested and took the childhood she'd known and ripped it away from her. Despite being loose with the rules in the circles, she had still been under the constant watchful eye of the Templars, and they frowned when mages were huddled and having fun. Her time at the Ostwick circle had been a relatively somber decade of her life.

She was glad that Sera was becoming a close enough friend to be physically affectionate with; more so now with alcohol in her system. Bull was a lot to take in visually, she had to admit, but he was proving to be extremely kind in his own way and hadn't done anything to make her feel uncomfortable or done anything remotely suggestive. He'd said plenty of sexually allusive things, but Evelyn had never been the subject matter, and that felt oddly refreshing.

She sat happily, unmoving with her two relatively new teammates and smiled to herself, alcohol warming her cheeks and chest. She hoped that they continued to get along and that they'd be traveling more together. Maker knows they were already more fun than Cassandra's constant disappointed matronly attitude and Solas' insufferable air of superiority. Not to say either wasn't damn good in a fight – but Evelyn had spent too many years denying herself joy in the circle and trying to find it in the beds of others that it felt refreshing to be making what felt like true friendships, and quickly. If she didn't have to be unhappy in her travels, then she wasn't going to force herself to do so. Not for the shattered Chantry. Certainly not for the blighted Templars. Not for the Inquisition. Not even for that dreadful hole in the sky.

The battle between winged scales and moss-covered sinewy muscle raged on the beach and the three watch in awe. The electricity from the dragon illuminated the mist thrown ashore from the crashing sea. They all watched silently, breathing together as one as the dragon sunk its impressive teeth into the neck of the troll before coming away with its head, and throwing it into the crashing waves with a roar that reverberated in their bones.

Bull smiled. "What I wouldn't give to roar like that," he said, he voice sounding far off in amazement as the dragon retook flight, headed towards the opposing mountainside, shrouded in low hanging clouds that promised rain tomorrow.

He then sighed happily and leaned back, his hands planting on the ground behind him. His movement caused Evelyn to move backward with him, Sera following. The added weight of the two women in their inebriated states caused Bull to simply fall back, all three giggling. Evelyn's head rested on Bull's stomach, and Sera's with hers in the mage's lap. They laughed together for a moment before they all just stared at the sky above, the clouds parting to show the speckled sky full of stars.

"You know," Bull said softly, his deep voice sounding deeper with Evelyn's ear to his torso. "Qunari hold dragon's sacred. Well, as much as we hold anything sacred."

"Is it 'cause they have horns same as you lot?" Sera said. Evelyn didn't need to see her face to know that she was smirking playfully.

Bull made a grunting noise that could have been in agreement or could have been dismissive. Evelyn didn't know him well enough to know either way, yet.

"Ataashi, the glorious ones," Bull said fondly as he moved to put his massive arms behind his head, continuing to look up at the sky. "That's our word for them. A-taaa-shiii."

Evelyn simply listened to him muse. His voice was deep and soothing. If she wasn't careful, his dulcet tone would lull her straight to sleep.

"Dragons are the embodiment of raw power," he continued, breathing deeply as the lilt of alcohol affected his speech, slurring it slightly. "But it's all uncontrolled. Savage. So, they need to be destroyed, not worshiped like the vints do. The q'un believes that hunting them will tame the wild. Make order out of chaos."

"You're gettin' too serious, yeah?" Sera said, sitting up from Evelyn's lap and made a grab for the mage's half-consumed mug of ale. "I think you need another drink!"

The elf took hold of the mug and offered it out for the qunari. Evelyn sat up, making a half attempted to reach for it. "Hey! I was going to finish that!"

"Not in this century you were!" Sera teased, holding the mug higher. "Either pound it back or pass it on, I say."

"Heh," Bull laughed from below, sitting up and taking hold of Evelyn's mug, it looked dwarfed in his large hand. "I'm with Sera on this one," he said before he threw back the remnants of Evelyn's drink. After an audible gulp, Bull made a satisfied noise deep in his throat before a belch detonated out of his mouth.

Birds in a nearby tear flapped away into the dark night, breaking from the tree line and hurrying towards the beach.

"Classy," Evelyn jeered as she sat up from her displaced position from Bull's movement.

"I'm the epitome of class, your herald-ness," Bull said with a flourish of his hand, bending slightly forward in his still seated position.

A tiny hiccup jolted him upright again, his face looking surprised. Evenly and Sera both broke out into another unified round of laughter at the tiny hiccup from the massive man. After a moment and another hiccup, Bull began laughing himself, his shoulders jostling as he did so.

"Had I known the Inquisition was going to be this much fun, I would have sent Krem earlier!"

"I'm pretty sure it's just Evvy," Sera said, her laughter subsiding. "Everyone else has a rather large stick up their rears."

Evelyn huffed. "Maker, tell me about it."

Bull's grin slowly spread across his face. "Sounds like the lot of them need an appointment with a good Tamassran."

"Ta-massy-what now?" Sera asked.

Bull shrugged. "If you're good, I'll tell you about them another night." He put his hands on his knees and began standing, the leather of his shoulder piece creaking as his muscles moved underneath it. "But it's late. We should probably hit the sack if we're going to make the trek back to Haven tomorrow."

"Practical and a good time," Evelyn said with a smile. Bull offered her a helping hand, and she took it, his hand enveloping her entire forearm as he pulled her to her feet. "Consider me thoroughly impressed. And happy to have you along," she said as she smiled at him.

A wave of dizziness washed over her, and she caught herself by putting her hand on his muscled abdomen. She then reached out for Sera, slinging an arm around her neck as the elf was just getting to her full height and leaned away from the qunari, smiling.

"You lot are going to be a sorry mess in the morning," Sera said, her hand going to support Evelyn's waist.

Bull shrugged. "I'll be good. It's our  _Herald_ here who may have drank too much."

"Oh pish," Evelyn dismissed. "I'm fine. Just… wobbly."

The three laughed again and then slowly started making their way back to the quiet Inquisition camp. The soldiers standing watch all looked at them curiously as they passed, considering they were pretending to be sober and absolutely failing to do so. Once they broke through the camp line, Sera started to snicker, and Evelyn poked her in the ribs.

"You'll wake the camp! Shhhh," she playfully hissed.

"You'll wake the ruddy camp," Sera retorted, her fingers grabbing Evelyn's slight frame by the ribs and tickling.

Evelyn tried to bat Sera's hands away, causing them to tussle playfully. Bull simply chuckled to himself before waving to them.

"Try and get some rest you two," he said with a grin before turning to his own tent.

"Goodnight," the two said in unison in hushed voices that carried in the silence of the camp. They heard several people within the nearby tents grumble and then both clasped their hands over their own mouths before looking at each other. Laughter still shown in Sera's eyes, and Evelyn felt another fit of giggles threatening to take hold.

"Go on to the tent," she whispered and took a step away from her friend. "I'll be just a minute. I just need to find the privy tent."

Sera nodded and bounded off into the dark, headed towards the tent that they had agreed to share. Some Inquisition soldier's had to double up to make room for the Chargers, most of whom slept with two or three to a tent as it was. When the requisitions soldier asked if Cassandra and Sera would be willing to share a tent, Evelyn said that that wouldn't be necessary and offered to share one with Sera instead. Cassandra had looked reluctantly grateful while Sera grinned mischievously. The two were in the midst of talking about what sorts of pranks they wanted to pull on the other campers when Bull had come up with drinks, offering to drink with them. And it hadn't been too long after that that they took themselves to sit on the hilltop to drink and laugh together without worrying about being too loud for people trying to catch some shut-eye.

The humid night air clung to Evelyn, and she stepped out of the privy tent, adjusting the front of her robes. The air smelled like salted pines, and she found herself smiling. She'd never been one for hunting in her youth before going to the circle, nor had she had the opportunity to travel to places like this before. Each day with the Inquisition held new places and new experiences and, despite the dire circumstances of the giant hole in the sky, Evelyn felt happy for the first time in ages.

 _It's amazing what freedom does to a person,_ she thought as she began walking back to her tent.

All of the campfires had been extinguished, and Evelyn paid close attention to her footing, ensuring not to trip over any of the oddly shaped rocks or roots jutting out of nearby trees. When she reached the tent and pulled back the flap, she could scarcely see that Sera already had her blankets pulled up and over her head and was sleeping soundly.

She'd never been one to sleep with too much on, and she and Sera had already agreed that sleeping in their smallclothes together would be fine. Despite how they'd playfully flirt with each other in front of others, the two knew it was all platonic and that that was all it would ever amount to.

As quietly as she could, Evelyn stripped out of her traveling robes, folding them neatly in the corner of the tent before crawling under the mass of furs and blankets on the ground. The alcohol in her system was already making her eyes feel heavy, but the weight of the coverings overtop her combined with the passable pillow and the warmth of Sera's body radiating next to her was all she needed to fall into a deep sleep.

* * *

Cold air broke through the seal of her warm blankets as something shifted next to her. Evelyn grumbled and scooted closer to Sera, wrapping her arms around her and pulling her back. She wasn't ready to get up yet, and she definitely wasn't prepared to be cold. She was sure Sera wouldn't mind. Nuzzling her face forward on Sera's back while also trying to move further under the pile of furs and blankets, Evelyn noticed something strange.

Sera didn't smell like Sera.

And the body of the person she'd wrapped her arms around wasn't lithe like Sera. She could feel that her hand was underneath the person's shirt, resting on a softly muscled abdomen that was taut, tension radiating through their body.

Evelyn's eyes opened with a start, and she moved her head back. Morning light from a distant sunrise filtered through the overhanging coniferous trees of the campsite and through the thick fabric of the tent itself. There was just enough illumination inside the tent to see that the person sharing her bedroll was definitely not Sera, as her blonde hair was starkly missing, replaced by incredibly short dark hair.

The person slowly looked over their shoulder, and Evelyn found herself looking into Krem's amber eyes. She felt her lips part in surprise. Krem's eyes looked her over, his expression was similar to when they first met – nervous.

"Erm," she started, testing her voice. She thought to remove her hands from Krem, but he was so warm that she couldn't bring herself to, especially because their slight movement caused the seal of warmth to break again and she could feel crisp cold air spread across her chest. "What're you doing in my tent?"

"Your tent?" Krem asked before he swallowed, the angle of his neck making the sound louder than it normally would have been. He licked his bottom lip nervously. "I'm sorry, your worship, but you seemed to have crawled in  _my_ tent last night."

"I what?" Evelyn asked as she sat up, intent on looking about the tent.

With the small light filtering in, she could indeed tell that this wasn't her tent. It wasn't even a tent belonging to the Inquisition – the sun illuminated the fabric to be a grey color with haphazardly patchwork stitching, distinguishably different than the brown leather tents that the Inquisition was outfitted with. In the corner of the tent, just to the left of the tent flap, she could see Krem's armor and massive maul set to the ground and small pile of clothing, haphazardly folded atop his breastplate to keep it off of the ground.

Her quick movement, though, left the Lieutenant without something behind his back and he fell backward onto his bedroll with a small huff of air forced from his lungs. Evelyn looked down at him, seeing the slightly longer hair atop his head splayed on the camping pillow beneath him, his eyes wide and his cheeks crimson.

"Maker – I'm so sorry!" Evelyn said in a rush, placing her hand down on the plane of Krem's abdomen. "I would never try and do anything to you while you were asleep! I promise! I thought this was Sera and I's tent last night when I crawled in!"

Krem blinked several times, the crimson spreading from his cheeks to his ears.

Shivers of cold air coiled around the mage's exposed torso, clinging to her shoulders and the small of her back. She became astutely aware that she was only wearing her underwear, as she'd stripped out of her traveling robes before crawling under the mound of blankets the night before. She felt heat rush to her own cheeks that had nothing to do with the alcohol she'd consumed with Sera and Bull.

Evelyn noticed the young man's hand fidgeting at his sides, grabbing and releasing the fur blanket that had spilled to his side as his eyes surveyed her visible skin. He swallowed nervously again and tried to speak, stammering over incoherent words before he cleared his throat and brought his gaze up to meet Evelyn's.

"No need to apologize, your worship," he finally managed to get out as smile formed on his blushing face. "It was a pleasant surprise to wake up warm for once out here."

The brief panic of feeling the need to cover herself vanished as Evelyn looked on his smiling face. She found herself looking cyclically from his eyes to his lips and back. Though smiling, his mouth was parted just so and the blush strewn across his cheeks lessened as he spoke.

She brought one shoulder slightly forward, coyly looking down at him over it as her hand moved more outspread over his abdomen, her nails just barely pushing against the cloth of his tunic.

"Are you telling me that you like me in your tent?" she asked, her coy smile articulated with a quirk of her eyebrow as she bit the edge of her lip.

The dissipating blush on Krem's face blossomed with a renewed vigor. "I, uh," he stammered, trying to find more words but none came.

Evelyn felt the smile on her lips spread in a catlike fashion. She used her free hand to pull her hair to the side over her shoulder and began leaning forward.

"Bloody hell," Evelyn heard Sera's voice carry from somewhere nearby outside the tent. "Where in Thedas did her drunk arse end up last night?"

"I'm sure she's around here somewhere, Sera," Bull responded, his voice sounding closer to Krem's tent.

Evelyn looked to the side of the tent as she bit her lips together. She could feel that Krem was holding his breath from the hand that was still atop his stomach. She looked back at him, and his eyes were roving her entire body, but his hands stayed fidgeting with cloth and fur at this sides.

She wanted to finish leaning forward and kiss him. To properly thank him for saving her life on the beach the day before and savor the warmth of his body pressed against hers before she had to dress and then travel about in the cold, wet air of the Storm Coast.

"Herald!" she heard Sera shout. "Wake your pretty tits up, yeah?"

She rolled her bottom lip through her teeth before sighing and straightening her posture.

"Duty calls, I suppose," she said, playful annoyance painting her tone.

Krem swallowed, and Evelyn felt the man breath again under her hand. "I suppose it does," he said with a nod.

Evelyn smiled at him before pushing herself up to stand, letting the blankets and furs drop around herself. She immediately missed the warmth of her bed partner, but she was not at all disappointed by his reaction: Krem's eyes grew wide as they surveyed her mostly naked body and his mouth fell ajar again. He then blinked several times in rapid succession before adverting his gaze, rolling to the side of this bedroll and moving to stand himself.

She smiled to herself as she stepped away and grabbed her traveling clothes, a small swell of pride flowering in her chest at the reactions she was able to elicit from him. Rather substantial reactions with almost minimal work on her part. She wasn't used to men looking upon her and simply being awestruck. She was more used to men seeing her in similar states and immediately moving toward her as if to claim her for themselves. And usually, it was exactly what she wanted in those moments. But with Krem, it had been an honest mistake to crawl into his tent. She certainly hadn't planned to show her body to him so quickly.

 _Perhaps it's a good thing Sera is looking for me,_ she thought as she brought the front of her traveling robes up over her shoulders and drew them closed in front of herself.  _Who knows what I'd do with a man as gentle and hesitant as he seems to be._

She bit her own lip at the thought, the prospect of bedding him was alluring. She'd been with men and women, but often found her male partners to be too dominating and the encounters ending too quickly for her liking, while her female partners to be too submissive and her getting almost no attention herself from the other. She was curious about what type of bedmate Krem would be. The way he had fidgeted with his hands made her think he was trying to distract himself from doing something else. And he'd been respectful, not looking too long at her body and tried to maintain her eye contact.

She frowned slightly as she secured her belt in place. Perhaps she was simply misreading the entire situation, and Krem had been uncomfortable and wasn't at all interested.

Looking up from her clothes now that they were donned, she saw Krem fussing with the drawstring of his trousers. His hands trembling just so as they held the cord and tried to make a knot but failed, pulling one end all the way through. She couldn't tell if it was from the cold morning air or from nerves of waking up to having her in his tent.

Evelyn crossed the tent and put her hand on his elbow. He only jumped slightly and his amber eyes, highlighted by the lingering rosy hue on his cheeks, shot up and met the mage's pale blue ones.

"Do you need a hand?" she asked, letting her nails trace the prominent bone of his elbow.

"What? Oh," he said as a shiver overtook him, his eyes fluttering momentarily before he cleared his throat. "I'm p-perfectly capable of—"

Evelyn cut him off by leaning forward and kissing his cheek, just above the corner of his mouth. As she withdrew, she brought her hand up to trail a finger along his jawline. "You fluster too easily," she said softly, watching his mouth open and his tongue tentatively move behind his lip. She smiled and leaned further into him, bringing herself more forward to whisper in his ear. "I quite enjoy it," she admitted provocatively.

As she pulled back, she noticed that the expression on Krem's face changed. His head followed hers as she pulled back, tilting his head slightly forward as his eyes solely focused on her lips. The shift was so starkly different that it caught Evelyn off guard and she looked from his lips to his eyes again, her hand cradling the side of his face. She wanted to close the small space between them and see what his lips felt like, but she unexpectedly became self-conscious at Krem's shift in demeanor. She felt a blush spread across her cheeks and found herself swallowing inaudibly and parting her lips and Krem seemed to lean in closer.

"What do you mean she's missing?" Cassandra's authoritative voice proclaimed loudly over the silent camp.

Evelyn flinched and snapped her attention to the tent flap. "Shite," she said under her breath before looking back to Krem who was blinking rapidly again and began to straighten his posture away from Evelyn. "I suppose they're going on about me," she added sheepishly, feeling a pang in her chest to lose the closeness of the man in front of her.

"Right," he said, his voice dropping lower as he cleared his throat. "Duty calls."

Evelyn smiled at him, gently caressing his cheek with her thumb. "Indeed, it does."

And with that, she gave him a final smile and a wink before moving to leave the tent.

The air outside the tent was substantially colder than it had been in Krem's tent. Morning mist and dew evaporated in the morning rays as the sun slowly crept higher, causing a low hanging fog to float about the campsite that was nestled into the woods. Evelyn brought her hands up and hugged herself for warmth as a cold shiver ran through her, her breath visible in the crisp morning air.

She made it only a few yards from Krem's tent before Sera bounded up next to her, practically jumping on her side.

"Where in the bloody breach have you been?!" the elf asked loudly. "I found her! Call off your dogs!"

Evelyn smiled and rolled her eyes slightly. "Did you honestly think I'd gone missing?"

"Are you shittin' me?" Sera rounded in front of her, crossing her arms in over her chest. "You didn't come back to the tent last night, and you expect me to think all is flowers and rainbows or some shite?"

Evelyn smiled and put her hand out and touched the elf's shoulder. "I'm sorry for scaring you. I simply got a bit turned around last night, is all."

"Turned around?" Sera repeated with a dramatic arch of her eyebrow. "Whatcha mean by that?"

"I ended up in someone else's tent, thinking it was ours."

Sera looked at her blankly and blinked. Laughter then broke through her lips and took over her features. "Whose tent?" she eventually got out between a roll of laughter.

Evelyn shook her head and looked back over her shoulder. As if on cue, Krem walked out from his tent, ducking under the tent flap before standing to his full height, fully dressed in his armor.

"Wait – no," Sera teased, pushing Evelyn on the shoulder gently.

Evelyn simply looked back to her and smiled, shrugging.

"You expect me to believe you stumbled into his tent on  _accident_?" Sera grinned. "It's not even on the right side of camp as our tent!"

Evelyn rolled her eyes again. "It was dark. And, if you well enough remember, I was drunk."

"I'm sure lover-boy didn't mind."

"Nothing happened," she said simply and started walking again, Sera falling in step with her.

"Nothing?"

"Nothing."

Sera eyed her. "Oh, somethin' happened alright."

Evelyn looked at her, quirking an eyebrow. "And what makes you so confident to say that?"

"Because you're smiling like you got lucky, yeah?"

Evelyn shook her head, laughing softly to herself. Nothing happened. But she was intrigued by the man – that hadn't changed. And there was a moment, despite how brief, where it seemed that Krem was interested in her, too. Though, it's not every day that you wake up with a practically naked woman in your bed who was not there the night before. But she was sure that had Casandra not yelled, Krem would have kissed her. And who knew what the morning may have held for them had he closed the distance between them.

Before she could refute Sera's allegation, though, an inquisition messenger ran up to her.

"Report for you, ser!"

Evelyn smirked. "Duty calls," she said to Sera, thankful for the interruption. Though she felt a familiar warmth to her cheeks, remembering how Krem had cleared his throat before saying those exact words to her before she left his tent.

**Author's Note:**

> As always, feel free to give me a follow on Tumblr at MistressNoriko for updates on what I'm working on. Thank you for reading and I can't wait to hear what you think!


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